The New Betting Exchange.

[john Tuohy]

As some of you might have worked out we are talking about setting up a new "Betting Exchange"?

Why?

At the moment the market is dominated by Betfair, and let's face it they have got a bit complacent.

Number Two is BETDAQ. On the horse racing front they seem to do quite well. Lots of liquidity and action on the in running markets. Not to mention their excellent tipster DAQMAN. The sports side with the possible exception of Football has never really taken off. Not for the want of effort on the part of BETDAQ PR Director Russ Wiseman, who is a member of our "Sports Exchange", and an excellent fellow. Destined for big things. Perhaps "Russ" might like to add a comment if I have mis-represented BETDAQ in anyway,

Also perhaps "Mick Stone" another one of our illustrious members:- an ex- Betfair man might like to throw in his pennyworths. Andrew "Bert" Black who surely reads this excellent site might like to say a word as well. I am sure Gordon, one or two of our other new members, and no doubt one or two of our older members may have a view as well.

So there are a few other betting exchanges out there as well, but does anyone use them?

If you click on Exchange Betting above it will take you across to "Matchbet". Friends of ours. Comments welcome.

The plan in my mind is to set up an "Alternative Betting Exchange".

It will be owned by punters, run by punters, run for the benefit of punters. By "punters", I mean gamblers, traders, sports enthusiasts, etc...

What I want to know is what do YOU think? If we set up a new "betting exchange", what would you want it to look like?

What would you want it to do?

What commision should we charge?

Should we have rubbish like "Betfair Poker" and "Casino Games", or should we be be honest and moral, and just stick to sports exchange punting?

Should the site look the old Flutter, when you knew who you were betting against?

Should we have league tables so we can all see who is "The Top Dog"?

Should it look like the "OLD FUTTER"? Should it look like "BETFAIR" or "BETDAQ"? Should it look like "MATCHBET" or one of the other "fledgling" exchanges?

It's all up to you?

Is this a goer, or am I just whistling in the wind?

Your comments would be gratefully appreciated?

http://www.matchbet.com/live/

[Adonis First]

I have long felt (dreamt?) that the next big step forward could be via an established "big name" of high integrity, such as (especially) Sir Richard Branson. He could take over something like Betdaq (thus rewarding current ownership for patience and determination for Change?) Think in terms of it becoming a respected Utility:- Huge, uncomplaining Customer base, steady, secure revenue stream, impeccable, publicly-scrutinised Betting Integrity. Properly (and publicly) regulated by the FSA.
Surely we're all fed up, already, with the "Star Chamber" -style Gambling Commission (a covert QUANGO???) which does precisely nothing to engage in discussion and debate with us on all matters Betting!

[Clive Mortimer]

I think Anton has made some good points. The Exchange should be user friendly and have useful tools. When I am trading on football I like to know the current score, the exact time the match has been going, if it has been delayed ( many a time I have made a trade thinking there was only a few minutes left ). The more information the better you are to make a trade. B/F used to put the score on then took if off. I did write and was told it was only temporary and would be back............I'm still waiting. That is another good point HONESTY and to be able to trust the exchange without all the blah blah which people can see through.

[Anton Whalley]

Hi All
I for me I think the issue is around user experience and I have a few points here.

1. I have lost count of the amount of people I have spoken to who would punt everyweek but would not go anywhere near the exchanges because they are too complicated.
If you could get their cash into an exchange you would get liquidity.

2. The amount of blogs you see on the net of people who setup trading on the exchanges only to pack it in after a couple of months because they don't feel like they are getting anywhere is also notable.
I think the current set of exchanges don't take their users on any sort of a journey and I would say the bear minimum for a new exchange would be tutorials and support groups. I don't mean a normal forum but a user group where people who contribute get there answers marked and earn discounts on the exchanges because of it (Think http://stackoverflow.com.)

3. As a more experienced trader I want a tools on the site that allow me to perform analytics.
The current crop give me one crappy HTML chart and some don't even have real time indicators on them.

It seems like smarkets is going to try and address some of these points and I for one will be taking a good look at it.

[Gordon McIvor Wilson]

Like it, Matt Punt, following your links, there's a great gameplan in here, keep rolling.

[john Tuohy]

I thought you were too young to FLUTTER. Did I tell you I met Vince Corelli once? I could bore you all for hours with the stories.

[Matt Punt]

Take a look at Coverstor.com. Another example of the social element in the trading / investment area. This time it's people investing real money in the stock markets.. it has the usual elements you have come to expect from this sort of thing - you 'follow' people, see who others 'follow' and track people success and failure.. there's discussion etc. Great idea.

I'm not saying that everyone will want to publish what bets they are having, or display their presence on certain markets... but some might, i think it is potentially interesting. I used to love that about flutter.

[john Tuohy]

Great Stuff Matt.

[Matt Punt]

We've been having a chat this mroning about some ideas, I'm going to copy them in here so that they are archived..

My idea is that we look to take on board some successful ideas that engage people on the web currently. The whole social thing is huge, twitter, facebook etc. Users should be able to engage with each other much more and should have more power over the content. We can look to use ideas from outside the betting exchange market and imtegrate and improve upon them..

For example, prediction markets are growing in popularity. There are several american sites that use play money, people trade back and forth on markets trying to predict news and sports events... These are populated by people who would never normally gamble, yet they know what they are doing and are fully engaged in the activity because of a clever idea and good design.

Take a look at hubdub.com. Example market. The users design the markets themselves, they write market info and they can post links to outside sources in the info. They all have avatars, you can chose to publish your bets or not and there is a comments section for every market. Simple, but engaging. Markets are approved by admin before being published.

There's no excuse for not being linky in this day and age.. Markets should be fully shareable, the easy with which users can tweet, or copy to facebook or blog a market is really important and would would grow the site quickly if we nail the design. The charts should be instantly useable for any purpose, we want them posted all over the place for reference.

For me it's all about design and its simplicity, Betfair fails in this regard...

[Matt Punt]

I don't think Jealousy comes into it, I'm fed up with having no choice and no competition for my custom. We have to bow to Betfairs business decisions, to which there appears no consequence, regardless of how annoying they are, that is simply no good for the consumer.

On the other hand, having all liquidity in one place IS good for the consumer.. but it would appear that it might* be in the wrong hands at the moment.

I'm also fairly bored with the whole thing and looking for something a bit more engaging..

[Gordon McIvor Wilson]

Please tell me, folks, is your driver for wanting a new exchange 1) because existing exchanges dont work technically as you would like? OR 2) everyone's fed up with (jealous of) eg BF because they're so successful?

MB was set up as a financial trading platform then adapted, so maybe one-size doesnt fit all; but its certainly a runner.

We do have close access to people with the right tech skills, market knowledge and capital, so with the expert members of The Sports Exchange, we've got the lot. Not just a pipe dream, serious market research going on here!